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Friday, February 22, 2013

The Easiest Ear Cuffs!

I wear earrings every single day. I probably have 100 pairs. A tiny sample:

But wait just a durn minute. Those aren't earrings, are they? They don't have posts or earwires. They are just pretty dangles, with small rings at the top. Those aren't earrings!So how do I wear them? Well, I'll tell ya. I wear them hung from the world's easiest ear cuffs.

And when I say easiest, I mean easy to make and easy to wear. Have you
ever tried ear cuffs? They are so comfortable! No piercing, and no
tight clip-ons. They hang in a civilized manner from the inner curve of
your ear, and most of the time you can barely feel them.

So many people let piercings close up, and then stop wearing earrings. Speaking for myself, being an extreme fraidy cat, I have never pierced anything, ever. Tried numerous times. Went to the piercing parlor, sat in the chair and everything. Couldn't do it. Hence, ear cuffs!

There are lots of tutorials for complicated swoopy, scrolly ones out there on the web. Here is my minimalist version.Start with a piece of craft wire, between 2 and 2-1/2 inches long. I like 20 gauge or 22 gauge, for the right combination of strong and flexible.

Turn a small inward loop on each end...

Make sure the two loops are on the same plane, not twisted all squeegee. Now you have this little item:

Bend it around a pen.

Then adjust it so the loops are about 1/4 inch apart.

Now comes the fun part. Just slip a dangle over one of theends -

And there you have it! Anything with a jump ring at the top can become an earring - I love to convert vintage earrings into dangles, like this:

Or I make my own dangles from scratch.

Sometimes I get weird; this pair's made from a dollar store fly swatter:

You can do this with practically any length or size - as long as they're not too heavy, you'll be surprised by how comfy they can be. These filigree ones are huuuge:

And yet I wear them with the utmost ease.How to wear: To put them on takes a little bit of practice. Start near the top of the ear, where it's thinnest. Then slide the cuff down until it sort of hooks itself over the cartilage above your ear lobe. (Try YouTube for lots of how-to videos.)

Say! Even if you do wear pierced earrings, why not add a pair of these cuffs for some extra va-va-voomage? Isn't this an exotic look?

Fray D. Cat: You've upcycled so many things and you don't have your ears pierced?? Shocked, I am. These are beautiful dangles, and the ear cuffs look great. Would it get in the way of those darn earbuds, though? I like your sentence, "anything with a jump ring can become an earring"..I always say "anything with a hole in it can become a pendant." Also in your case, "anything at the dollar store can become jewelry."

This is a completely new idea to me. I have pierced ears but they hit a nerve on the first one so I nearly ended up looking like a pirate! I've thought of getting a second hole done but the memory of that insane, white lightning bolt of pain has kept me from it. This just might be the solution for me! Thanks so much for sharing :D

These are great! I DO have my ears pierced (3 sets of holes!) but sometimes you just want something a little different! I've been trying to teach myself to make some of the fancy schmancy complicated ear cuffs, but they can be rather persnickity to get to sit right. The simplicity of these is ingenious!

I think I know what everyone is getting for their hand made gifts THIS year!

What a neat idea! I'm wanting to try this, but I'm afraid I'll lose one or both. Do they ever fall off? I have long hair and I'd be worried some hair would get hung up with the cuff and if I flip the hair back ... there goes the cuff.

Ah, great question! Answer: the ear cuffs are pretty darn secure with short hair or long hair pulled back. But it's true, a complicated, long or spiky earring will sometimes get caught up in long loose tresses. When that happens I usually find it in my hair and can put it back on - I have rarely lost an earring! Caveat: a few peeps (my mom, for example) have an ear shape with not much of a natural ledge right there - so she has trouble keeping them on. But most people don't have that problem. Try them out and see!

I got my ears pierced when I was 11 and for some reason when she said "I am going to pierce your ears with this gun" I freaked out, for some reason let her pierce one? and then had to be talked into getting the other one done. BTW what made it worse is that a crowd came and stood by while this happened to me. Really, people? I later heard that I should have never gotten them done because I have very sensitive ears and they get infected (although I still wear earrings and just deal with the infections).

Totally simple and cute! I make the fancy ones, for costume appeal, but not everyone wants to wear those. My ears are "holy" like many of them but I keep tiny loops in that I never swap out and for whatever reason, my original holes hate most metal, even platinum. Go figure. Also, loved seeing your humor and personality! Thanks so much for keeping it simple. :) Rian

Hi Michelle, I had to go anonymous because I don't know what the other profilesmean. My name is Michelle also and I love the ear cuffs. Like you, I would never go to have my ears pierced, always tried but ran out, guess I'm just chicken. I have always wanted pierced ears my whole life, I'm now 70 yearsold and have finally given up. Clip earings hurt like hell sometimes, so I can't wait to try these cuffs, thanks so much for sharing a wonderful idea.All the best to you from Michelle Scare D. Kat!!

I am a victim of pierced earrings causing an infection. My poor lobes have never been the same since. I haven't been able to wear earrings for almost ten years, now. I can't wear jewelry on my hands because of various conditions ending with "itis," so all I can adorn myself with were earrings and necklaces. When earrings were taken away, I stopped trying so hard. Your post here has changed my life. I can wear earrings again! My daughter does wire jewelry and she's going to be making me jump rings and ear cuffs! Wires come in lots of colors, now, too, so you can make them match! You can wear two cuffs in different colors. I love you! Life changing, that's what this is! ~~ Janice~~

Hi, Janice! That makes me so happy! I know, there is just something about wearing earrings, isn't there? Until I figured out this ear cuff thing, I was always incredibly jealous of people who could wear the dangly pretty things, and I couldn't.

Oh, you just made me so happy when I found your site! My preteen nieces want to wear earrings, but their granny, who has passed on now, made them promise to never peirce their ears and they hold true to that promise. Now with your genius idea I can make them cute little dangly ear cuffs. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I just love how you say things. What a great personality you must have. Keep up the good work.*Patti*

Hi, Pamela, that's a great Q! I have never had one break, I think because they are all curves. They are springy and flexible. Just be a little careful not to pull the gap wide apart to take them off - that could strain the metal if you do it too often. Best to slide them off along the outside of the ear, the way you slide them on. Hope that helps!

Love this idea!! Oh, and now I understand why you call yourself Scaredy Cat! I had infections the first time I tried pierced ears, didn't get up the nerve again til this year when I started making jewelry..so now at the age of 61, I can finally wear earings! One person said she just deals with the infections? Stop! You're sensitive to metals like me. Try only Surgical steel, or Rhodium Plated Earwires. Silver plated and gold plated will break down from your body's chemistry causing infections.Scaredy Cat...it's 4 A.m. and I'm getting up just to try making these awesome ear cuffs you designed!!Coffee anyone?

Thanks so much for a great idea I too have been the victim of the ear piercing gun and since only have one hole open and can't repierce them anymore so hopefully I'll be making myself tons of dangles to go on the cuff I miss wearing earrings thank you so much

I just wanted to jump in here and say, when I got my ears pierced the first time it was using a needle an ice cube and a potato. No guns, no fancy stuff like is available these days. Cuffs are awesome thanks.

Welcome welcome!

Hi! I'm Michelle L. I live in a cool old neighborhood near L.A.'s Miracle Mile. Welcome to my upcycled jewelry blog, where I love to create funny or unexpected jewelry from re-purposed materials. So nice of you to visit! I hope you enjoy the weird of it all.